USA

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All By Myself

L just pulled out a few minutes ago. I know a few people still here, but not in any sort of close fashion. It’ll be strange to be alone for a full week. Isn’t that something? The norm for me is to be alone with almost no social calendar whatsoever. I’m sure I’ll get back into my groove shortly.

It looks like it will be a gorgeous and sunny last week here on the beach. Of course, they are calling for thundershowers next Monday! Oh, well, as long as it’s just grey and not pouring out, it’ll be a good day to leave.

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Lots ‘o Seafood

L beat me soundly at shuffleboard this afternoon, then we headed into Port Lavaca for one last meal together at Bayside Seafood. Thank you again!

This time, I did not want a deep fried meal, so I chose their grilled platter. It didn’t include the stuffed crab I had so enjoyed the last time, so L insisted that we add the stuffed crab meal meal to our order. Boy was that a lot of seafood!

My grilled plate was incredibly delicious and I’m glad I went with that instead of my original idea of having just the crab. It came with a big piece of delicately seasoned catfish, three big toothsome shrimp, three juicy scallops, a few oysters, dirty rice, and a nice big mound of veggies (squash, onions, broccoli, and red pepper). I do have to say that I have decided I do not and never will like oysters. Or rather, I’ll eat oysters if they are on my plate, but I am not going to seek them out.

The stuffed crabs were even better than the last time! I wound up taking one home with half my catfish and a pile of fries, so I will have a nice lunch tomorrow.

But we weren’t done. L insisted on my ordering dessert if I wanted it and the ‘Turtle mousse cake’ had caught my eye. It was just the right size to end the meal with, especially after L had a sliver and deemed it not be to his liking as he is not a big chocolate fan.

I feel replete, but since I did not have a ton of batter and grease, I am not stuffed!

I’m so glad that I’ve had a chance to partake of the local oceanic delicacies this winter.

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The Calm After the Storm

I awoke to rain that quickly changed to a roaring thunderstorm that whipped the rig badly. The upshot of it is that it cleaned my windows  nicely! The sky has been gradually clearing and I’m hopeful we will get the promised clear skies tomorrow so that I can get my batteries fully recharged (they’re at 94% right now, 15AH down, so power is not a concern!).

I was happy to have an excuse to stay in today and worked contentedly on my ebook and cross-stitch project, a sharp contrast to the restlessness I felt yesterday.

This evening, L and I are heading out for one last game of shuffleboard and then a seafood dinner. I should check in with him and make sure our clocks say the same thing. This has definitely been the least brutal spring time change of my life, since I’m not on a schedule.

When I booked my stay in San Antonio, the 18th felt so far away. Now, I have only one week left on the beach!

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Cabin Fever

Today was a bit of a down day. The weather wasn’t great and the wind picked up in mid afternoon. I witnessed my wisp of a neighbour open her house door and literally fly out of the rig, holding onto the door for dear life! When I had to go out a few moments later, I made sure to exit through the cab!

It’s rare that I have a day where I don’t know what to do with myself at home, and this was one of them. I worked on my book, did some housekeeping, played my recorder, and tried to sit down with a movie and some embroidery. Nothing kept my attention.

I finally decided to just head into town to pick up a few things, coming home with all the fixings for a cozy night at home: a pizza, ice cream, and Liam Neeson (I had beer at home!). I had just finished dessert and the movie (Unknown) was getting good when there came a knock at the door. I knew what that meant!

A few minutes later, L and I were on our way to Indianola for a couple of beers and some live music. He’d also been hit by a wave of cabin fever! We had a good time chatting and watching some kids reel in fish. We didn’t stay long, just enough to shake away some of the blues. I am going to have such fond memories of that pier in my old age.

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Another Battery Observation

I didn’t post about this latest battery observation on Monday because I wanted to repeat the experience, which I did tonight.

When I shut down for the night on Sunday, my battery voltage was very low, about 12.3 when I was only down a few amps. I had left my computer plugged in all day, but it draws only about an amp when it’s fully charged rather than 4 or 5 to charge it, so I’ve decided to sacrifice the laptop battery for the sake of the house batteries.So, really, I should have been sitting at 12.55V once everything was off and the computer unplugged.

When I got up up the next morning, voltage was about 12.45V, much better than the night before but still not right. I ran the engine for all of five minutes. An hour after shutting down the engine, voltage had stabilized to 12.57V. It’s almost like the computer exhausted the batteries and they needed a little boost.

Similar situation tonight, except that when I unplugged the computer to see where I was at voltage-wise, it was 11.99V!!!!! Even though I knew that was not a true reflection of my amp hour capacity, I couldn’t spend the night with that little voltage! I ran the engine for five minutes and now voltage is holding steady at 12.5V, even with the computer plugged in and a light on.

I’m sure some of my experts have been chomping at the bit to jump back into the electrical theories arena, so have at it! 🙂

And for those who have heard enough about my batteries to last a lifetime, I do apologize. 😉